My Daily Companion: The Daily Roman Missal

April 19, 2012

I’d like to give a short review of the book that has been my daily companion: my Daily Roman Missal from Midwest Theological Forum. For the daily mass goer a hand missal is essential as most pew missals only contain readings for Sundays and Holy Days.

I have the burgundy leather bound edition. To say leather bound is a little misleading. The book has a hard cover with a plush faux leather cover over the inside cover. It is by no means flexible like a bible. The missal also comes in black and burgundy hardcover, black leather, and black genuine leather editions. Note that the hardcover is on white paper instead of the cream bible paper used in leather editions; the hardbound also lacks gold gilding.

Of the three major missals available in the US (the others being the St. Joseph 3 Vol. Daily Missal and the Saint Paul Daily Missal) this missal is the only one with a passable cover.

Having inspected the vinyl cover St. Joseph missal and leather St. Paul missals, I would have to give the edge to the DRM by far. I do not believe that either of the other missals have covers that can last more than even a few months and maintain their look and shape. I am completely dissapointed in these two missals whose covers are more like flexible cardboard than leather or vinyl. The St. Joesph and Paul missals are no where comparable to past editions of these missals.

I have not been able inspected the leather editions of the St. Joseph missals.

I use the book for studying the readings before mass, prayers before mass, following the order, guiding my confession, and benediction on a regular basis. I will admit that the book is a little thick when compared to my 1961 Saint Joseph Daily Missal that I use when attending mass in the extraordinary form. I’d imagine that the missal would be hard for someone with smaller hands to handle during mass to follow the order.

The Order of Mass is given in both English and Latin for those who attend the Latin Novus Ordo, or if you are a student of Latin and want to make your own judgment of the new ICEL translation.

As you can see from the photos, the book has six ribbons. Have them placed so as to jump to parts of mass and to prayers I use regularly. The gilding is holding up well, with some wear around the ribbons but that is to be expected.

The treasury of prayers in this missal are second to none. It draws its material from the Handbook of Prayers by the same publisher. The missal contains most of the content that can be found in the Student Edition of the Handbook. The missal contains the popular Guide to Being a Better Catholic and Spiritual Gameplan sections. The missal also includes For those of you now familiar with the Handbook you can check out content HERE.

I enjoy the artwork in the Daily Roman Missal more than I have from any of the other ordinary form missals currently on the market. I have shown many examples in this post and others on the blog. I will however say that the artwork is nowhere that of any of the extraordinary form missals that I have seen or owned.

Finally I have to say that if you do purchase an MTF Daily Roman Missal you should consider purchasing a cover to keep your investment in top shape for years to come. With a cover not only will you keep you missal looking newer longer, but you will undoubtedly ad years to the life of your book. If you do purchase a cover I can think of no better than the hand made cover from the Roman Catholic Sacramental Foundation. The cover is now available on the website, however they were nice enough to make me one when I inquired via email several months ago.

There isn’t much more to say about this book other than it is by far the best missal for for use in the United States. I recommend this missal for anyone who is looking for an edition of the Third Roman Missal or for a great comprehensive prayer book.

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Nice! Thanks for the review. Ive recently started searching for a missal to buy and was happy someone took the time to talk about the different versions out there. I didn’t even know that there was a Midwest Theological Forum missal out there. I thought there was only a St Joseph and St Paul missal. Though really I’m looking for a Sunday Missal as weekday masses are only a dream for this working man. Thanks!

This missal is really lovely, I really like it. I own the CTS Daily Missal as I live in Scotland, which is a really good missal also. One of my prayer books is published by both CTS and the MTF, really like it. Thanks for sharing your photos!

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